


The King

by Crimsenrose



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:02:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29966799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crimsenrose/pseuds/Crimsenrose
Summary: In the old days one King had to die for the next to take his place. This is what happens when a King refuses to die and a Prince can't bare to take his place. Until he forced to choose between his loyalty to his King and his need to protect the innocent subjects of his kingdom from a tyrant.
Relationships: pre slash for several characters
Kudos: 1





	The King

The King is Dead, Long Live the King  
nOoOoOoOoOoOo--

Thomas sank down heading to the mind palace. He was extremely worried about Roman. The past month has been hard on him and all the sides. They are all still dealing with the fallout that followed the wedding. Patton has been his rock through it all. He has led the charge to accept Janus and seek out his advice. He has also insisted upon trying to include Remus but so far it hasn’t worked well. Remus still tries to make everyone uncomfortable all though he no longer threatens to hurt the others.

Virgil on the other hand still doesn’t like or trust Deceit. He refuses to even acknowledge Janus’ presence in their conversations. Thomas hopes he will eventually come around like he did with the others.

Thomas has also been actively trying to include Logan in more conversations and discouraging the sides from interrupting or complaining when the Logical sides lectures run long. He wants all his sides to be open and feel needed. Which is why he is now searching the mind palace to find his creativity.  
Over the past few weeks, Roman has withdrawn further and further from him and the others. His creativity has always been loud and over excited in their discussions but lately he only responds when asked a direct question. Thomas hasn’t had any issues with using his imagination so he kept hoping with time and space Roman would come out of the funk he is in.

Joan had come over earlier today to work on the next script for Sanders Asides. He had summoned them all being as it was decided that they would all be in the new video. He is hoping to show the viewers the sides working on their differences. 

Everything had been going well and they were getting a lot of ideas and lines from the group. Roman wasn’t really throwing out ideas but when asked he came up with good lines for himself. 

After a particularly funny one Remus had laughed and hit Roman on the back exclaiming, “Good one bro!!!” The hit hadn’t been very hard at all, but it sent Roman to his knees. He seemed to be having trouble breathing and his whole body seemed to tremble uncontrollably.

“ROMAN!!!” Patton cried.

The group had all crowded around the side to try and help but Roman just held up his hand shakily and said, “Don’t.” He then climbed to his feet. His whole body gave a shudder as he sank out.

There had been a tense silence for a couple minutes before they all came out of their stupor and started to question each other frantically. After a heated debate they agreed Patton was the best choice to go check on him. The others stayed to finish the script but quickly realized they couldn’t concentrate. Not long after they all agreed to meet back up the following day if Roman was up to it and they all went their own way.

Joan had stayed another hour to try and cheer him up. They had told Thomas that Roman had probably got hurt while out on a quest and the Prince just needed time to heal. Thomas knew that Roman had been injured during other quests, but something continued to feel off. After Joan left, he had tried to summon Patton to get answers, but he didn’t appear.

So here he is searching for his creativity or his morality. He is starting to get more worried the further he goes in the mind palace. He hasn’t seen or heard any of the sides and is running out of rooms to search. 

The next room in front of him is Logan’s. The closer he draws to the room the darker and colder the hall seems to get. There is a weird electric feeling in the air surrounding him as he touches the doorknob. There is a strange noise behind him then everything goes dark.

Thomas slowly wakes back up to the sound of his sides calling his name and strange metallic noises.

“THOMAS PLEASE WAKE UP KIDDO!!!” Patton cries hysterically.

“Thomas, please be ok, please.” Virgil is chanting over and over.

“Guys I think he is waking up.” Logan says hopefully.

Thomas tries to sit up, so they won’t worry but as he does the room begins to swim and he is suddenly nauseous. He immediately drops back to the floor and groans.

“Take it easy Thomas. It appears you might have a concussion from the blow to your head.” Logan states trying to hide the worry in his voice.

Thomas can’t understand what Logan is talking about. He doesn’t remember getting hit in the head. The harder he tries to remember the fuzzier his head feels. He slowly opens his eyes and looks around. 

What he sees makes the nauseous feeling worse. He seems to be in a dungeon from an old castle. The walls are whitewashed stone, and the floor appears to be well worn cobblestone. Five of his sides are all surrounding him with their arms chained above their heads. He can tell they are very uncomfortable because they are standing on their toes and their arm muscles are straining. They all have various cuts, bruises, and abrasions.

“What happened and are you guys ok?” Thomas asks trying frantically to force his body up to help them.

“We are doing great. Definitely not in pain or anything.” Janus says.

“Wow if I knew you were that kinky, I’d have showed you my dungeon. Damn my brother has all the good ideas.” Remus says looking suggestively at the deceitful side.

“Dude I know you aren’t trying to be a douche right now, but could you shut up.” Virgil says glaring at Remus.

Once Thomas feels somewhat steady on his feet, he stumbles towards his morality to try and free him. He pulls and tugs on the chain, but they are strong and the padlock holding them to Patton’s wrist won’t budge. He can feel himself begin to panic. His breathing gets shallow and faster.

“Hey kiddo I need you to calm down and breathe ok. It’s not going to do any of us any good if you have a panic attack.” Patton says soothingly shifting slightly to place his forehead against Thomas’ to help calm him.

Thomas takes a deep breath and wills himself to calm down.

“That’s better kiddo. Now I need you to listen to me and do as I ask. Ok?” Patton looks inquiringly at Thomas.

“Okay just tell me what to do please.” Thomas pleads.

“We need you to be very brave and return to the real world.” Patton says smiling at his host.

“What no I can’t leave you guys. Are you insane?” Thomas says taking a shocked step backwards.

“You have to Thomas. You aren’t safe in here. We don’t know why Roman is doing this and we can’t be sure what he will do to you.” Logan says.

“Wait Roman did this. Why? He wouldn’t do this to you guys and he certainly wouldn’t knock me out.” Thomas cries looking around waiting for one of them to laugh and say it was all a joke. The looks of anguish on the others faces nearly knock the breath from his lungs.

“Look Thomas we all woke up here just like you and we all assumed that one of the rogue emotions had forced their way into the mind palace. In fact, we were all betting on how long it would take the Prince to eliminate the threat but then he entered carrying your unconscious body.” Patton says sadly.

“He had changed his outfit and seemed to be in a trance, but it was him. We tried calling out to him and asking what happened to you, but he just laughed and walked out.” Janus adds.

“So, you must listen to Patton and get out. It’s not going to help us if you stay and get hurt. Our only chance is if you get away and we can hopefully talk Roman down.” Logan said looking into Thomas eyes and trying to make him see how worried for the host they all are.

“I know you guys are worried for me and I know if something happens to me that you guys are affected but I have to try to reach him. I can’t just give up on him.” Thomas states quietly.

“Yeah we understand that Thomas and we aren’t asking you to but if you are going to try and get through to him it would be better if it was on your turf. If you summon him to the real world, he won’t be able to hurt you but in here you will feel every little bruise or cut he gives you. He can’t really kill you in here, but it will feel like it.” Virgil says.

“Fine I’ll go but if I can’t get him to see reason then how do I save you?” Thomas asks looking guilty at the thought of leaving them.

“We have to believe he will come around kiddo. I mean its Prince Roman he is a noble knight who protects the realm.” Patton says trying to smile to reassure Thomas but the tears running down his cheeks spoils the effect.

Thomas nods and looks around trying to memorize each one of them. He fears this will be the last time he will ever see them. Then he focuses on sinking back out. His body begins to shake, and he feels an extreme pressure in his head. 

The pressure keeps intensifying the longer he tries to leave. When the pressure becomes too much he cries out and drops to his knees. At the same time, the sides all scream and thrash against their chains. The pain from the host radiates through each of them causing the reaction.

“Now now Thomas that was mean. I’m afraid you aren’t allowed to leave and the harder you try the more pain they will feel.” The voice comes from the doorway of the dungeon.

Thomas spins around to see the new arrival. Roman stands smiling in the doorway. His usual crisp white outfit is gone and in its place he wears a brown tunic over black pants and black leather boots. He also wears a black silk cape that is clasped together with a ruby and an emerald. A beautiful crown rests upon his head. It is gold and adorned with more rubies and emeralds.

“Ro what is going on? You can’t actually want to hurt us.” Thomas says walking slowly towards him.

“Oh, but I really do. You are all going to learn your place before the end of this night. Every one of you thinks you are better than me. You have betrayed me and will pay the price for it.” The Prince says then grabs Thomas and twists his arm behind him. Thomas cries out in pain and tries to wrench his arm away.

“STOP ROMAN!!! STOP IT THIS MINUTE.” Patton screams.

“Oh, sorry pops but Prince Roman isn’t here right now. You can call me King or your Majesty.” The King says causing a flash of recognition to cross the Dukes face. The King then shoves Thomas across the room and stalks towards Janus.

As he approaches the side Remus begins to fight against his chains. He is pulling and yanking against them so hard his wrists start to bleed. “LET ME OUT. YOU THINK YOU ARE SO TOUGH THAN PROVE IT. COME ON YOU CHICKEN SHIT. I KNOW WHO YOU A……..” Remus’ speech is cut short by the sword hilt brought down on his head knocking him out. The King then rips a long strip of Remus’s outfit off and uses it to gag him.

“Sorry about that guys. Don’t you just hate when someone tries to spoil the punch line?” The King asks laughing quietly. “Now my devious little snake where were we?”  
Thomas in the meantime is trying to sneak around behind him. Once he is directly behind the side, he throws himself forward and tackles him. He wraps his arms around the King’s neck and tries to hold on. The force drives them forward into Janus who tries to help Thomas by head butting the royal. 

Enraged, the King grabs a knife from his belt and drives it into Janus’ shoulder causing Janus to cry out. The King then swivels and slams Thomas’ back onto the wall in between Janus and Patton. Thomas has the breath knocked out of him causing him to let go and fall to his knees. All the others cry out from the attack on the host.

The King takes a second to rub his head and stretch his back then grabs Thomas by the hair dragging him to middle of the floor. He summons two chains to form on the floor. They have one end attached to the floor, the other end has wrist manacles that he wraps around Thomas’ wrists. The chains are only long enough for Thomas to sit or kneel on the floor.

“Well, that was unpleasant.” The King says walking back to Janus. He comes to a stop directly in front of the side and grins. “Brace yourself, this is going to hurt.”

Then, he yanks the dagger back out, causing Janus to scream. The scream vibrates around the room, terrifying the others who begin to struggle against their bonds. The racket brings Remus back into consciousness. As the side takes in the scene in front of him, he tries to call out, but the gag makes the words a jumble.

The King wipes his blade on the front of Janus’ jacket and slaps him on the cheek. “Now that was fun, wasn’t it? Don’t worry, my little snake, we are not done yet, but I have to give my attention to everyone equally.” He then turns towards Logan, who is directly across from Janus and stalks towards him. As he approaches, Logan tries to get as far away as the chains allow but isn’t able to move far.

“Who knew our little nerd could feel fear? Did you know Thomas?” The King asks looking towards the host. “What other emotions do you think we can coax out of him?”

“Don’t, please...” Thomas quietly says through his tears. “Just let them go and we can work it out together. Please, Roman. This isn’t you.”

The King grins and says, “You’re right, Thomas. I’m not myself.” He then turns towards Logan and places the blade to his cheek and drags it down. Logan tries to not cry out, but a whimper escapes his lips.

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?” Patton cries out. He’s reached his limit and he can’t stand to see his family hurting anymore.

The King glances towards the father figure when he screams at him and begins to laugh.

“You don’t have to hurt them… Please, Ro…..” Patton starts to say but is stopped by the King dashing over to him and wrapping his hands around his neck. Patton starts gasping and trying to pull away.

“OH MY GOD! No, let him go! Please, don’t hurt him!” Virgil pleads.

“None of you are listening to me. I’ve told you how to address me, but you won’t listen. So, I’m going to have to try harder to get it through your heads.” The King says knocking Patton’s head repeatedly into the wall while still choking him. The side has to fight to stay conscious. He is afraid if he loses the fight, then he might never wake up or worse one of the others will be lost.

Thomas is unable to watch anymore. He closes his eyes and begins to cry uncontrollably. He begins to chant in his head repeatedly. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. As he hears Patton gasp again, he feels a pressure build up in his gut. It races through his body picking up speed and building in pressure.

“STOOOPP.” Thomas screams as the strange pressure rips its way out of his body leaving him feeling drained and dizzy. The pressure then rushes across the room slamming into the King. The force lifts the King away from Patton and slams him into the ceiling above. The King is held against the ceiling for several seconds then the pressure releases and he plummets to the floor. As his body hits the floor there is a loud crack and the King lays unmoving on the floor.

“Thomas, Patton are you guys ok?” Virgil cries pulling at his chains trying to get to them.

Unable to answer because of the damage to his throat Patton looks at Virgil and tries to smile at him. The smile is more of a grimace and pain can be seen clearly on the sides face, but Virgil is hopeful he will be ok soon. He then turns his attention to the host on the ground.

“Thomas can you acknowledge Virgil’s question for us.” Logan asks gently.

“I think I’m ok. I’m really tired.” Thomas whispers making the sides struggle to hear him. “Is Patton ok?” He asks a little louder opening his eyes and glancing towards the side.

“He’ll be ok. His throat is sore, but it will heal.” Logan answers the host’s question.

“What about Roman?” Thomas asks worriedly. “I didn’t kill him did I.”

“I can’t tell from here, but you had to do it. If you didn’t, he might have killed Patton.” Janus says straining to see the downed side. “Patton is he breathing?”

Looking down Patton struggles to focus his eyes enough to see the rising of the side’s chest. The steady rising of his chest gives him a little bit of comfort. His friend isn’t dead which means they can still save him. He then nods at the others.

All of them except Remus sighs in relief. Knowing they are all still in danger he begins to struggle harder to spit the gag out. The others notice it and try to calm him.

“Remus, we get it. We need to find a way out before he wakes up. We need to stay calm and think this through.” Logan says trying to take control of the situation.

Remus is not calmed by Logan’s speech. He starts shaking his head frantically and trying to use the chain to pull himself up far enough to remove the gag with his hands. After several tries, he finally succeeds. 

Pulling the gag down he frantically calls out to Thomas. “Thomas, I know you are exhausted, but I need to know if my brother is still alive. Please summon him here.” Remus says looking the most serious he has ever been.

“Remus what are you talking about. Patton says he is alright. I know you have always secretly cared about him but now is the time to worry about us not him.” Janus says angrily.

“NO. You have to listen to me. We need Roman. Shit!!!” He gasps as the King groans and starts to rise. “THOMAS SUMMON HIM NOW. Do it. DO IT!!!!”

The King dashes to Remus and punches him repeatedly screaming, “YOU WILL SHOW ME RESPECT OR I WILL END YOU. YOU ARE WORTHLESS WITHOUT ME. LOOK HOW WEAK AND PATHETIC YOU ARE.”

Remus weakly gasps as the blows continue, “Thomas do it.”

Trying not to pass out Thomas looks at the others inquiringly. He can’t understand why Remus wants him to summon a side that stands before him, but he wants to make the side feel better and secretly hopes it will draw the aggressive side away from Remus. Gathering his strength, he focuses on his creative side and pulls. He feels as if there is some sort of force working against his pulling, but he refuses to back down. Closing his eyes and using every bit of strength he can he yanks. Finally, something gives, and he feels the side being pulled towards him.

Thomas opens his eyes expecting to see the King being dragged to him. He gasps and jerks back as a crumpled form raises out of the floor in front of him. The form is shirtless and covered in blood. 

Thomas sees various open cuts all over the back that is laying before him. The scariest part of the whole situation is that Thomas hasn’t seen any movement at all from the guy. 

He is so focused on the body before him that he doesn’t see the King move towards him and is startled by Virgil calling out to him. “Thomas look out.”

Thomas jerks around and finds the King standing in front of him with a wicked grin on his face.

“Thomas I wasn’t expecting you to be able to pull my eldest into this. I had trapped him deep in the subconscious but now that you have let’s invite him to join in the fun.” The King says walking towards the unconscious form.

The King kneels in front of the form and lightly shakes his shoulder. “Come on my little Prince. All your friends are here wanting to play with you.”

“Wha” the form mumbles. His body begins to tremble, and he shifts away from the kneeling side. He startles and cries out as his back encounters Thomas’ side. He curls into himself and quietly sobs. Thomas instantly reaches forward to comfort the man. He gently runs his hands through the others hair and sooths him. He is extremely shocked when the man looks toward him, and he realizes its Roman.

“Roman? Shit are you ok?” Thomas says instinctually moving forward to block his creativities body from the King.

At the move the King giggles and says, “Really Thomas. Are you going to pretend that you care for the little worthless Prince? We all know what a disappointment my son is to you. Hell, you let that piece of shit snake destroy what little self-esteem he had but don’t worry Tommy if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here now. So, thank you for that.”

Thomas glares up at the King. “Who are you exactly?”

“Oh, my dear boy haven’t we already established that. I’m the King.” The King says turning and moving back a little. “Remus how about you explain the situation to your dear host since your brother still needs a minute to get his wits about him.”

Remus spits blood toward the King and flips him off with his suspended hands.

“GOD DAMN IT. I WILL NOT STAND FOR YOU DISRESPECTING ME LIKE THAT. I WILL KILL YOU.” The King said angrily stomping back towards the Duke. Before he reaches him, he hears a voice calling out to him.

“Wait my King. He didn’t mean it.” Roman says crawling out of the shelter of Thomas’ body. He forces himself to his knees and bows his head. “Please father don’t hurt him. I’m the one who deserves to be punished. I failed in my duties and need to be taught a lesson.”

“Roman no. What are you saying?” Thomas asks trying to reach out to pull him back to his side. The chains jerk against the bolt on the ground and Roman is just a finger length to far from him.

The King just shrugs and turns back towards the Prince. “Your brother needs to learn his place too my little Prince.”

“I know your majesty but it’s my fault. I failed him and allowed him to go off on his own. He can’t learn his place if I don’t know mine.” Roman leans down still on his knees. His forehead touches the floor, and his arms stretch over his head.

The King walks back to his eldest child and squats down beside him. He reaches his hand out and presses down roughly on the bloody torn flesh of his back. Roman’s muscles tense but he doesn’t try to pull away or make a sounds to show the pain that they all know he is feeling at the touch. The lack of sound scares Thomas and breaks his heart.  
“That’s my good boy.” The King says to Roman as he looks toward Thomas and grins. 

The host struggles and fights against the chains that hold him down and stops him from reaching the hurting Prince. “Just think Tommy boy I have you to thank for finally breaking my little Prince. I’ve tried for 25 years to break him, but you, the soccer mom, and the snake only needed one night. Tell me what’s your secret?” The King asks using Roman’s damaged back to push himself to his feet finally drawing a whimper from the injured side.

The pressure causes several of the cuts to begin bleeding again. Thomas goes still and begins silently crying at the sound. The other sides start calling out taunts and trying to get the attention away from their host and their hurt Prince. The King ignores them all choosing to raise an eyebrow at the host in a challenge. “What nothing to say Tommy boy?”

“Don’t. Call. Me. That.” Thomas says staring the King in the eye. “I don’t know what you are talking about. We all love Roman and would never do anything like this to him. You are truly sick and evil, and we will find a way to stop you.” With every word Thomas speaks he sits up straighter and his glare becomes more deadly.

“Ah there’s that fire. I was wondering if I had completely eliminated your pride, but I guess it still burns brightly inside my little Prince. Don’t worry I’ll enjoy training it out of him later. As for your love for the Prince where was it when you allowed the snake to manipulate him. Where was it when your morality convinced him to ignore his instincts that screamed to ask your friends their opinion on you attending the wedding and where was it when he then blamed poor Roman for not doing it. Oh, and where was that love when the snake told Roman, he was evil, and you and pops said nothing. And finally where was the love when you lied to him about him still being your hero. I guess you only love him when it’s convenient for you but once again thank you for that.” The King says giving a little mock bow in Thomas’ direction.

“How are you even here? You should be dead.” Patton wheezes painfully.

“Oops well you see that’s kinda ironic. You see you guys betrayed Roman, but he betrayed you first. I was becoming the most powerful side. I had the ability to take power from not only other sides but also from Thomas himself. You couldn’t force me to follow your lead, so you began to fear me pops. Your fear of me lead you and the others to want me gone but you knew Thomas would be nothing without me.” The King says as he begins to walk towards the moral side.

“So, you decided to split me to minimize my power and control over Thomas and his abilities. You also knew splitting my powers evenly between the two halves would cause chaos from the two fighting for control so you created the perfect little Prince who would be easy for you to control and gave him the majority of the control. Leaving my poor dysfunctional Remus with very little control and an even more out of control personality.” The King says smirking at Patton as he pats his cheek.

The King begins moving around the room pausing before each side. As he reaches each one, he taps his blade against their chest in a weird sort of game of duck duck goose.  
“That choice is what lead us here today. By making Roman the sweet innocent Prince you left him incapable of destroying me. During the split as Roman was coming into consciousness and I was fading out he couldn’t let me die so he used the power you gave him to lock me away in the imagination. I’ve been using the connection between me and him to torment him verbally for years but then you three weakened his resolve about what is right and just. In his weakened state it was almost too easy to escape and begin shaping him into a true Prince.” The King says with a chuckle.

On his second trip around the room he stops in front of Virgil. The side steels himself and swears to himself he won’t show fear.

The King grabs Virgil’s face and examines it carefully. “It appears that I’ve neglected you little kitty. Let’s remedy that shall we. Roman come here.”

Roman rises to his feet swaying slightly then begins staggering towards the King. “Yes, your majesty.” Roman says coming to a stop slightly behind the King.

The King steps to the side and turns so he can see both Roman and Virgil. “It’s time to see how loyal you are to me my son. I want you to break the kitty’s claws.” At his words Virgil gasps and looks pleadingly at Roman.

Roman’s face remains stoic he knows showing any emotions to the King is dangerous. “My King it would be useless to torture the emo. He is no threat to you or the Kingdom. We should let them….”

The King backhands the Prince across the face halting his words. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, did I?” The King questions.

“No, your majesty.” Roman says wiping blood from his split lip.

Virgil in the meantime is taking a page from Remus’ book. He grabs a hold of the chains and pulls himself up kicking his legs out and connecting with the King’s head. The force knocks the King down. He lands on his back remaining still.

Releasing the chains Virgil drops back down. “Princey what is wrong with you. Stop this shit now and kill him while he is down. Please we need you. I need you.” Virgil says pleadingly.  
Roman slowly moves closer to Virgil and starts to reach his hand towards the others face but jerks away at the sound of ominous laughter. He comes back to attention and stares everywhere but at the emo.

The King slowly rises to his feet holding his nose. Blood drips between his fingers. “I now see why he is all you think about my little Prince. This hell cat has fire in his veins. I’m going to enjoy watching you gut him, but first.” The King then slams his fist into Virgil’s nose breaking it. The blood pours down the emo’s face and drips on the floor. 

Roman’s eyes begin to glisten with unshed tears and his throat is clogged by a sob trying to escape.

“You are so weak and pathetic. Look at you trying to hold back tears for this worthless side. I can’t believe morality thought you were strong enough to replace me. Now take this blade and gut him or I’ll use it to gut you.” The King says holding the blade towards Roman.

Roman glances around taking in the injuries and distraught faces of his host and fellow sides.

“Roman you can’t mean to hurt Virgil. Please Roman fight this. I know you think you aren’t my hero, but you are, and you will always be my hero.” Thomas cries trying to summon any power still in his control to protect his creativity and anxiety from the King but in his weakened condition he can’t force it to the surface.

Roman looks to his father and nods. He takes a step closer to his King and gives a slight smile. “Your right I’m weak and pathetic but I can change.” The Prince glances to the dagger and says, “I won’t need that. A true royal needs to learn to get his hands dirty. I will prove my worth to everyone by killing with my bare hands.” Roman holds his hand out turning it from side to side as if looking for weak spots.

“That’s my boy. We will rule together, and all the others will bow before us.” The King exclaims looking around triumphantly and laughing.

The laughter abruptly stops as Roman’s fist rips through the King’s chest and yanks his heart out. The King looks on in shock as Roman lifts the glowing organ up as if showing it to him. The last words he hears as he collapses is Roman saying in a sad tone, “The King is dead.”

There is a collective gasp from the group then a round of cheers.

“Princey are you ok?” Virgil asks worrying his bottom lip.

Roman doesn’t answer stepping away from the side still holding the glowing heart in his hand. When he is a couple feet away, he stops and glances to Remus. Using only their eyes the two seem to have a silent conversation. After a few seconds Remus nods and bows his head in respect to the other royal.

The Prince hesitates for a second then he crushes the glowing heart in his hands. As it is crushed the strange glow begins to swirl and move up the royal’s arm. The heart disintegrates into dust. Turning his hand palm up the Prince opens his hand and blows the dust towards their host.

The dust surrounds Thomas and his wounds begin to tickle. Glancing down at the wounds Thomas is shocked to see his wounds disappearing. He can also feel his exhaustion dissipating and strength returning to his body. Hearing a gasp from Logan he looks up at his logical side to see his wounds are also closing and disappearing.

Curious now Thomas looks around and is excited that all his sides are being heeled and recharged. The excitement turns to fear though when he glances to Roman and finds the side completely engulfed in the red glow. It appears to be flames. Thomas is somewhat relieved when he realizes the flames aren’t scorching the sides flesh though.

The flames lick and dance on the Prince’s skin. As they shift and move his torn pants and battered boots are replaced with brand new black leather boots and black pants. A long sleeve form fitting black silk tunic begins to form covering his bare chest. Once the tunic is fully formed a red silk sash is formed crossing from his right shoulder down across his chest and closing on his left hip. Finally, a beautiful floor length black velvet cloak with red trim forms around his shoulders. In the center of the cape is a beautiful gold crown.

The flames start to glow brighter until the others in the room must close their eyes to keep from going blind. Suddenly the flames burst from around Roman and rush through the room destroying the chains and releasing the others. As they feel their bonds release, they all open their eyes and glance once again at the Prince.

The Prince looks to Remus once more and takes a breath saying in a deep commanding breath that causes the hole mind palace to shake, “Long live the King.”

Remus grins as he bows and repeats “Long live the King.”

The flames that had been absorb into the stone walls then rush back towards Roman and forms a shiny gold crown with rubies adorning it.

THE END


End file.
